Gun control and the Second Amendment are highly emotional and controversial issues in the United States. As a potentially landmark ruling in McDonald v. City of Chicagois shortly to be announced by the Supreme Court before its current term ends in June, Patrick J. Charles, author of The Second Amendment: The Intent and Its Interpretation by the States and the Supreme Court (McFarland, 2009) and Britannica’s new entries on both subjects, has kindly agreed to answer the following questions posed by Britannica executive editor Michael Levy.

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Britannica: In The Second Amendment: The Intent and Its Interpretation by the States and the Supreme Court (2009), you examine the debate over whether the Second Amendment protects individual or collective rights—that is, whether or not it grants individuals the right to own and carry arms or whether it enables citizens to arms only in relation to service in a militia, and conclude that it only protects the right to “keep and bear Arms” for the defense of the country in a militia force. How did you reach this conclusion?

Charles: I originally began writing The Second Amendment: The Intent and Its Interpretation by the States and the Supreme Court not as a book, but as an article discussing how the phrases “bear arms” and “keep arms” were used in colonial and state statutes from the inception of every colony to 1800. I had just read the District of Columbia Court of Appeals decision Parker v. District of Columbia, and was perplexed by the court’s examination. I was curious as to whether the court was correct in that “keep arms” and “bear arms” was popularly understood to mean private possession for personal uses or if the phrases had a more limited connection to militia service.

I began my search reading the prominent works of “individual right” and “collective right” commentators. I came to the conclusion that the only way to settle the debate was to start my research by sifting through every American statute available from our inception to 1800. I felt this was the best means to determine the popular understanding as would have been understood by the legislators, judges, and the people themselves. I came to this determination because, at this time in our history, the laws were not as expansive as they are today. Generally laws were one or two pages, leaving much to be determined by the common law. More importantly, these laws were generally printed, distributed, and read aloud so that the public was on notice. Thus, I would argue that legislative intent and popular understanding would have been one and the same at this time.

Upon sifting through each state/colony’s statutes a common thread began to develop. First, the phrases “bear arms” or “keep arms” were not in any laws concerning crimes, self-defense, homicide, hunting, game etc. Second, in state/colony militia laws the phrases “bear arms” and “keep arms” were prevalent. Third, the phrase “well-regulated militia necessary to the security of a free State” or some deviation of this phrase was prevalent in the preambles of many of these militia laws. Fourth, a close examination of the militia laws revealed much about eighteenth century American society and arms. In some instances, states/colonies provided the arms. In others, states/colonies provided able-bodied men to provide them. Meanwhile, most prescribed a combination of the two approaches and required able-bodied men to provide arms and supplied arms to those who were too poor to provide their own.

It was from these findings that I concluded that the right to “keep arms” and “bear arms” was intimately tied to service in the militia, and began to research more. After going through congressional and state debates, the proceedings of the state and federal constitutional conventions, and numerous other sources I did not find any substantive data to sway my conclusion. While I agreed with “individual right” theorists that the right to “keep and bear arms” was individual in nature, I found nothing that sufficiently severed that right from service in a “well-regulated militia.”

As of today, I still have not found any information that sways my thesis. If anything, my later works and articles have strengthened my initial approach in The Second Amendment: The Intent and Its Interpretation by the States and the Supreme Court.

Britannica: In your Second Amendment article for Britannica, you write that the framers of the U.S. Constitution undoubtedly had in mind when drafting the Second Amendment Article VII of the British Bill of Rights in 1689, which proclaimed “that the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law.” Can you briefly describe the context of Article VII and how should we interpret the intent of the Second Amendment based on it?

I must say that this is a great question because Article VII’s language and history has been confusing to contemporary Americans—legal academics and laymen alike. Because Article VII makes not mention of a “militia” and reads that qualified Protestants “may have arms for their defence,” the clause has generally been interpreted as a right to possess and use arms for individual armed self-defense. This interpretation mischaracterizes seventeenth century England in both law and history.

Article VII was drafted so that Parliament would have concurrent authority over the militia. It placed the governmental right of “self-preservation” and “resistance” in Parliament, all the while controlling the access to militia arms in order to exercise this right. This is why the “have arms” provision states “as allowed by law.” To be precise, the “have arms” provision provided Parliament with the legal authority to exercise the right of “self-preservation” should oppressive standing armies be maintained or if the laws, liberties, estates, and Protestant religion be subverted by the sovereign.

Disputes over control of the militia date back the 1642 English Civil War. Following that war, Parliament temporarily took sole authority of the militia. However, upon restoring Charles II to the throne in 1660, authority of the militia was returned to the crown according to a compromise. The compromise was that Parliament gained assurance that Catholics could not assume military posts. Meanwhile, Charles II ensured that a provision was placed in the 1662 Militia Act which made it unlawful for Parliament or anyone to rebel against the crown.

In the 1680s this compromise was violated. Both Charles II and James II employed Catholics as militia officers and lieutenants. These employments were significant because militia officers had unfettered authority to arm and disarm the militia. Such militia disarming actually took place in Ireland perpetuating fears that it would extend to England. It was in this context that Article VII was drafted.

It has been asserted by Joyce Lee Malcolm [professor of law at George Mason University] that Article VII was drafted to prevent the incessant disarming of Protestants, which violated their common law right to have arms for self-defense. First, this interpretation fails to answer why the disarming of dangerous and disaffected persons was prominent both prior to and after the 1689 Declaration of Rights. Second, it does not explain why the phrase “arms for their defence” was commonly used to describe the arraying of the militia or Parliament exercising its governmental right of lawful resistance to the crown. Third, it fails to address why none of the legal treatises, political pamphlets, or popular print culture of the late sixteenth and early to mid-seventeenth century has supported this interpretation.

Article VII is still important today because it will help courts interpret the constitutional scope of the Second Amendment in many respects. For instance, we know through early American constitutional commentators such as William Rawle, Joseph Story, Benjamin Oliver, and St. George Tucker that Article VII and the Second Amendment were nearly synonymous. This commentary confirms that the only major difference between the two rights was that the Second Amendment was not limited by socio-economic or hierarchal status. Thus, as the courts deal with issues such as arms in the hands of criminals, the carrying of arms in public, and whether aliens have a constitutional right to arms we will likely see more of an examination of the constitutional framework of Article VII.

Britannica: In your gun control article for Britannica you write that proponents of gun-control legislation assert that the strict enforcement of gun-control laws saves lives and reduces crime but that opponents of gun control assert that minimal restrictions on guns ensure that individuals have adequate means for self-defense and that a wider distribution of firearms results in safer communities. Based on your research, what do you believe the weight of the evidence suggests and why?

Personally, I think the evidence is inconclusive. While there are great arguments on both sides, every community or State has different problems with crimes and safety in relation to guns. In other words, I think every community and State has to weigh different factors in determining the proper gun control measures. For instance, let’s say that community 1 has a small law enforcement agency that has to cover an entire county, and community 2 has 10,000 law enforcement officers at hand. This difference is something that legislatures should take in consideration in determining gun control measures for the respective communities. The same applies to congested cities versus spread out towns, for a stray bullet in a congested city is more likely to go through an apartment wall or into a crowd than in a spread out town.

I think the Founders and our Anglo ancestors understood this community approach. For instance, if one peruses the English Statutes of the Realm they will see different rules applied to the cities than to the country regarding the use, possession, and storage of arms. Arms in the cities and more populous municipalities were generally under stricter restrictions than that of the country. At the time of the Founding, similar laws were passed. For example, municipalities generally had laws against the shooting of guns at night due to the dangers of a stray bullet. The same applies to laws concerning gunpowder, for towns like Boston required gunpowder to be stored safely by a town official.

Britannica: Gun control is among the most emotional issues in the United States, but it is less so in much of the Western world. How do American gun-control laws compare to that found in other Western countries?

There are certainly similarities and differences which would take up too much of our readers’ time, but what makes the United States unique is that we have 50 States with 50 different constitutional protections on the right to arms, as well as different gun control laws. While a State like Virginia allows an individual to open carry a firearm in a bar or courtroom, the District of Columbia places strict restrictions of even transporting a firearm within its limits.

To my knowledge, the rest of the Western world doesn’t have these large variations of gun control restrictions primarily for this reason–to ensure uniform gun control policies.

I also believe we have such a different approach because the Founding Fathers rested our national defense and constitutional balance on the concept of a “well-regulated militia.” Our Founders viewed arms bearing as a badge of citizenship to protect one’s rights, liberties, and property from the encroachment of enemies—foreign and domestic. It should be emphasized that by 1787 the rest of the Western worlds were operating with professional standing armies. The American colonies were distinct in that they still prescribed to the militia system. Although this militia ideology ultimately failed by the early nineteenth century, a right to arms remained enshrined in our Constitution, which is the oldest standing Constitution today.

Britannica: In 2008 inDistrict of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to possess firearms independent of service in a state militia and to use firearms for traditionally lawful purposes, including self-defense within the home. Do you think that this case was rightly decided, and based on that ruling, what should we expect in the upcoming McDonald v. City of Chicago decision?

As my book The Second Amendment: The Intent and Its Interpretation by the States and the Supreme Court details, I think the decision in Heller is severely flawed from an originalist standpoint. The problem with the Court majority’s interpretation primarily rests with its misconception of Article VII of the 1689 Declaration of Rights. I believe by the Court majority starting off its interpretation of the Anglo right as an individual’s right to armed defense against assailants, the Court was seemingly forced to accept an interpretation that utterly negated the “well-regulated militia” language.

The phrase “well-regulated militia” was so important to our Anglo and Scottish ancestors, as well as to the American colonists from the sixteenth century to the adoption of the Constitution. It stood for the constitutional principle that only a well-disciplined, trained, and virtuous citizenry could protect a nation from tyranny—both foreign and domestic. While many “individual right” commentators have claimed this interpretation strips the Second Amendment of any meaning, the fact of the matter is the Founders thought the most important right of all was for an individual to take part in defending their government, and their rights, liberties, and property in the process.

As far as McDonald is concerned I expect a close 5-4 ruling as was the case in Heller. Having sided with the City of Chicago, I hope the Court will not apply the Heller decision to the States. My belief is that if the Court closely examines the Anglo history of the right to arms it should not apply the Second Amendment to the States. However, as oral arguments indicated, it seems that a Court majority favors incorporating the Second Amendment to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause—what is known as “selective incorporation.”

This leaves the one important question: “What standard of constitutional review will the Supreme Court adopt (rational basis, intermediate scrutiny, or strict scrutiny)?” Given the disposition of the Justices at oral arguments, it seems likely that a rational basis review or a variation will be adopted so that States and municipalities can have flexibility in adopting gun control measures. As already addressed, different communities have different needs when it comes to adopting gun control.

Regarding Chicago’s gun control laws and whether they will survive, I think the Court will uphold the laws only if they determine Chicago does not outright ban gun possession. In other words, so long as the laws prescribe a process for individuals to apply for and acquire firearms, the Court will uphold it as constitutionally permissible. Perhaps the Court will adopt dicta similar to Kelo v. City of New London, and remind the people that the States have the authority to adopt firmer constitutional protections to firearms than the federal Constitution provides.

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A periodic feature of the Britannica Blog is question and answer sessions with experts on a broad range of topics, from politics to pop culture. To view all the past posts in the 5 Question Series, click here.